TEXT: HEBREWS 12:1 – 2.
👉 An adage from the ages past says “He that will eat the honey from the heart of the rock will have to sacrifice the edge of his axe head.”
👉 It is important to know that everything in life has a price tag, both the physical and the spiritual, you cannot have what you have not paid the price, otherwise you will be indebted. Risk takers are throne getters.
👉 The cross symbolizes confrontations, cruelty, condemnation and cruxification.
👉 The quotation from the epistle to the Hebrews above shows that our Lord Jesus Christ actually dared the cross before getting the crown and the throne, that is what the word “endured” used really stands for, considering the expression that follows, - ‘despising the shame’.
👉 Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Philippians also buttressed this “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” – Philippians 2:8.
👉 The Lord Jesus Christ (has to) dared the cross with all the pains, shame, and every humiliations that came with it in order to get the crown.
Philippians 2:9 – 10 – then says “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every kneel should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father”
It is therefore imperative for us as Christians to counter ad resist whatever opposition, confrontations and antagonisms that is posted against us, demanding for our denial of the existence of the almighty God.
👉 Challenges should be seen by all Christians as a stepping stone to fulfilment of destiny, and an opportunity to get to a higher level, and need not to be run away from.
👉 It is a popular saying that, “winners don’t quit, and quitters don’t win.”
👉 Abraham dared his cross when God tested him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering; he risked the life of his only son, as far as the covenant is concern, he was all out to stake the boy’s life to get the yes of God. Genesis 22:1-19
“so Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him” – Genesis 22:3.
Isaac was Abraham’s covenanted son, as well as the conveyor of the covenant; ordinarily, his death should destabilize and demoralize Abraham, a replica of the cross for him to bear and he dared it.
Genesis 22:10-13.
👉 God will always plays His part, and for us to have His yes, we are required to maintain our stand in Him. Genesis 22:15-18.
Shadrach Meshach and Abed-nego, the three Hebrew young men overseeing the affairs of the province of Babylon (Daniel 2:49). Dared the cross of the fiery burning funace when they refused to bow before the king’s graven image of gold. Daniel 3:1-30
Daniel 3:16-18
👉 Even when the king threatened to multiply the heat of the furnace by seven times, yet they refused to bow and dared it, and they got it, because the fiery furnace end up bowing to the almighty God in their lives. Daniel 3:25-29
👉 “Then the king promoted Shedrach, Messhach, and abed-Nego in the province of Babylon” – Daniel 3:30
👉 As believers, it can only be allowed to trouble us, but not to be destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8; John 16:33b.
The challenges are not meant to stay forever if we can face and dare it.
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a fare more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” – 2Corinthians 4:17
You are to contend for the faith, be ready to dare any opposition to the truth of the gospel.
Always remember that Jesus said “in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” – John 16:33b
“But he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved” – > Matthew 24:13
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried, he shall received the crown for life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” – James 1:12